


And the World Comes Tumbling Down

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Death, Gore, Hetalia, Killing, M/M, Murder, OC, OOC, Sad, Trapped, aph, die - Freeform, mansion, ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:53:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4494363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They didn't know what to think when they were trapped. Especially once they were told that they were about to be killed off, slowly, in the worst ways imaginable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Meeting

Meeting- an assembly of people, especially the members of a society or committee, for discussion or entertainment.

The nations met once every month, in a world meeting of sorts. These meetings always, always, commenced as planned, no matter the problems in one's country. if the meetings were even remotely important to the actual advancement of any country, they might instead postpone their meetings so that any country could take the time they might need to recover, or they might hope that their capital could come into the meeting for them, but their meetings were more like play groups for the countries, so their bosses could have time when they didn't have to deal with them, especially in the cases of the most annoying countries.

These meetings were never held in one place more than once. One of the countries, though none remember exactly which, suggested it a while ago, and ever since things have been that way. They quit enjoyed, specially when it was a smaller country's job to host the meeting space, and they had a hard time finding new places to hold the meetings. Larger countries, like The United States, Russia, and China never had this problem, the lucky lands, and America especially always found it hilarious when other countries would run out of places to hold the meeting.

It was America's turn to host the meeting, and he usually didn't give much thought to the places he would put them in. He could use any building he wanted to, it didn't really matter in his mind.

However, this time, it was different. A company had sent him a letter, telling him that they would be very honored to host the world meeting. He didn't know this company, in fact, he'd never even heard of them. But he went along with it, and didn't try to think too much about it.

And that's what got him into a horrible mess.

'---'

America opened his mailbox, grabbing the many messily stuffed envelopes inside. He sighed as he sifted through them outside of his trash can, not bothering to even take most of them inside. He always got so much mail when it was close to his time to host a world meeting, almost every company wanted him to use one of their buildings, and though it was nice to know he was popular, it always got annoying REALLY quickly.

Besides, he already had a place he wanted the meeting to be, and any letters that didn't give them a building option in at least a nearby place weren't good enough for him. Most of the mail was of the same people begging for him to hold the meeting in their "super large, fancy" building in some place like New York City or Orlando, but he already hit those places first, and now he was looking for something different.

One letter caught him off guard. It was from a company called Eckoe Industries, and it said they were a newer computer company that heard about him and would like the chance to have their world meeting held in their head building. America grinned as he read it, still standing, outside at the garbage can, and he threw all the other letters in.

He found his meeting place, exactly where he wanted it to be. Cleveland, Ohio.

America quickly ran into his house and to his charging iPhone. He dialed in the company number put on the letter and waited for them to pick up. One of the states, Colorado, sleepily walked into the room and saw America, waving as he headed to the kitchen. As the phone rang, America could hear the fridge door open and close, and Colorado walked back with a bowl of cut pineapple, eating it as he walked by.

America glared at Colorado as he walked by, and he just grinned and ate another piece. All of the states knew that America didn't like pineapple, though none of them, even America, didn't know why. He just woke up one day with the hate for pineapple, and feeling that he should make sure Canada could still see and walk. (I regret nothing)

America almost sighed with relief when the ringing stopped and a friendly sounding, female voice spoke over the line.

"This is Eckoe Industries, Jenna Churchfield speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hi," America said. "I'm Alfred F. Jones, or America, and I received a letter about hosting my world meeting in your head building, I would like to ask if I can accept that offer."

There was a slight pause before the lady spoke again. "Of course you may, would you like to meet up with our CEO and talk over it beforehand?"

"Sure! Tell me when!"

"Well, today is a particularly uneventful day for her, and her schedule is open up for anytime between 10 AM and 5 PM today, if you can come today."

America checked his watch. The time was, exactly, 9:32 AM, and America knew that he never really had anything to do anyway. He grinned.

"I'll be there soon," was all he said before he hung up, silently celebrating.

He ran up to Ohio's room and banged on the door loudly, yelling "Ohio I need you to come here I'm going to need you to teleport me to Cleveland so we can go meet the people who're going to host the next world meeting!" It would've been fine if just Ohio were in that room, since she was used to listening to things much louder than America's yelling with her earphones, but sadly, she wasn't just there alone. The was no way in the world America was going to add 50 rooms to his house just for the states to sleep in.

Instead of Ohio answering the door, a very grumpy and tired-looking Michigan opened the door. America had to stop for a minute as he saw the horrid mess that was her hair.

"Whoa dude," he said. "What the heck happened to your hair?"

He could swear he heard a growl come from Michigan's mouth, and she yelled at him, saying "I was sleeping, idiot! And my hair always looks like this when I wake up you blind elephant!" She then proceeded to slam the door in America's face.

'Oops,' he thought. 'I forgot that Michigan and Ohio shared a room.' He didn't understand why Michigan seemed so mad though. Even learning that she had to sleep in the same room as Ohio didn't seem to make her that mad.

America turned towards the other rooms and asked loudly, "Hey, anyone know why Michigan was so grumpy this morning?"

A couple seconds passed before he received a response from Florida's room (if anyone thinks of this in the wrong way I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU), equally as loud.

"She's on her period!" Well, that explained it enough for America. He mouthed a quiet 'oh,' and glanced once more at Michigan and Ohio's door before running back down the stairs while he still had the chance.

It took about an hour for Ohio to come downstairs, and by then, New York had already rushed out the door, muttering something about being late while she slipped her Bluetooth onto her ear and grabbed her phone from the table, California had gone off to teach a surfing lesson or something, and about half the other states had shuffled throughout the large mansion they all shared. America saw the shorter girl coming down the stairs from a chair he was sitting on, and immediately he hopped up, rushing over to the teen.

Ohio looked at him, stifling a yawn, and took out her right earphone. "Hi America," she said. "What do you need now?"

"So, Ohio," America started. "I found a company who would let me host the latest world meeting inside their head building, which is in Cleveland, and I want you to take me there since you can teleport to literally any place in your state and it would be nice to have you there too."

Ohio sighed. "Just a second," she said, disappearing into the kitchen, and coming back out with an apple. She took a bite. "Okay then. So what's this company called?"

'---'

"And there you go! So, would you still like to hold your meeting here?" America and Ohio had been taken around a tour of the building, shown the place the meeting would most likely be in, and the coffee room, and all the important things.

The one showing them around was the CEO and founder of Eckoe Industries, Echo Jaris, and all in all, she seemed like a nice person. She was tall, and had tanned skin, long dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and freckles dotting her face, and still looked pretty young. She was smiling the whole way though, but Ohio had a weird feeling about her. She could tell America was excited to hold the meeting in her building, however, so Ohio decided not to say anything.

"This place is perfect! Of course I wanna hold the meeting here! Ohio, don't you agree it's nice?" America looked at Ohio, and she could tell he wanted her to agree, even if she didn't like it. She just shrugged, put her hands in her Cleveland Browns hoodie, and paid more attention to the Fall Out Boy playing through her headphones.

Echo grinned. "Good! Now, let's talk over time, if that's okay. It'll only take a minute."

Though America nodded, seeming perfectly fine with it, Ohio still felt something wasn't right, and she just muttered, "I'll be outside," before walking away and out of the building.

Echo and America stared at where Ohio just was. "Does she normally act like that, Mr. America?"

"Yeah, it happens from time to time. She's stuck as a 14 year old, you can't blame her for being moody from time to time."

"I guess so." Echo didn't dwell on it. "Anyway, follow me, and we'll get the meeting time situated!"

"Great!"

Echo lead America into a different room, but she glanced back at where Ohio left, sending the area a quick smirk, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"They won't see it coming," she muttered under her breath, before following America into the room, and acting as if nothing ever happened.

And Ohio still felt uneasy as she waited for America outside the building.


	2. Chapter One: Falling

America entered the building, knowing that this time, he would be the first one there. Nobody ever came an hour early, after all. 

He was met at the entrance by Echo. "Oh, hello Mr. America," she greeted kindly. "What are you doing here so early? Isn't your meeting in," she paused to look at her silver watch, "an hour?"

"Well, duh," America said. "But I'm the host, and this building is the absolute coolest. I thought it would make me an awesome host to show up the earliest."

Echo nodded, but she was a bit annoyed with how casually America was speaking. It was a pet peeve of hers for people not to be formal when talking with someone they didn't really know, especially with business. "Okay!" she said, feigning cheerfulness. "Anyway, if you would like to go and head up to the room early, it should be ready for you to enter by now."

"Thanks, dude." America left, and Echo took a deep breath.

"He is beyond annoying," she muttered. She smirked, and pulled out her phone, typing in a text message. "Well, at least him coming earlier means I can hopefully get things started quickly, I can't imagine how long I'd have to wait if he came late."

She finished typing, and sent the text, looking it over afterwards, and reading it silently.

'The first of 24 has arrived. America is here, now we just need to wait for the others.'

She smiled, not the cheerful smile she had on in front of the other countries, but a menacing, almost evil-looking grin, one that would never fail to terrify someone out of their own skin. Echo knew her plan was going to work, and she would make them proud. She would finally get what she wanted, and all it took was something as simple as this.

No one was going to stop her, especially if she had control of the whole "company". All her workers were either in on her plan, or bribed into staying silent. If any of them said a simple word, she could have anyone, and everyone, at their throats. 

She worked hard to get what she wanted, and if this was the way to get it, then boy oh boy, of course she was going to get it.

'---'

Time was passing quickly, and by now, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and England has arrived as well. They were all lead up kindly by Echo, who was thankful she was a good actor or else the whole thing would be absolutely horrible. She especially didn't like England. (I love how I'm referencing things no one will understand, I mean, Echo herself is a reference) And she didn't even know why, it was just a gut feeling that England and her would not get along, even without her whole secret fiasco going on.

Echo was pacing around, near the entrance of the building, and hoping she didn't appear stressed to anyone coming along. No one could know of what she was doing, and she was worried about the succession of her plan. She had put so much time into it, she had to make sure that nothing failed, even in the slightest. The door opened, and Echo turned towards it, smiling.

"Hello there," she said cheerfully, taking in the appearances of the people in front of her. There were six of them, all blond. Of course. "You must be the Nordics, correct?"

Their reactions and hellos were mixed, and Echo could hardly make out who was saying what. Thankfully, she was at least able to gather that, yes, they were the Nordics. She knew that officially, there were five Nordics, and that the sixth one must be Sealand.

"Anyway," she said, trying to talk over the six, who seemed to not be able to stay quiet. "I'm Echo Jaris, CEO and founder of this beautiful company, and I will show you to the meeting room you will be placed in. The little micronation with you is allowed in as well, don't worry about that. I'm sure that he won't be much of a problem anyway. Just please follow me."

Echo lead them up through the building, her patience draining slightly every second she had to listen to the nations. She had to stay polite as of now, she would be able to get rid of them if she pleased later. The puffin that followed one of them, she remembered her files on them saying it was Iceland, was especially annoying, and as they were on the steps up to the room, she stopped and turned around.

"Mr. Iceland, am I correct?" she asked. The nation nodded simply, and she continued. "Okay, well, Mr. Iceland, if you would like, I could hold your puffin in a room close to the place you'll be holding the meeting in, just until the end."

Iceland didn't look convinced. "Mr. Puffin's been with me forever, I can't just hand him to some stranger."

Echo sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought. "I promise we'll take good care of your pet for you."

Iceland glanced at Norway, who shook his head, but shrugged as well. Iceland turned back to Echo. 

"Thanks," he said. "But no thanks. Mr. Puffin always comes to these meetings, he'll be fine."

Echo kept the smile on her face, saying, "Okay then! He is yours, after all!" She, however, was not happy with this, and added on in a quiet murmur, "I guess he's just an uninvited guest I'll have to get rid of after all this."

Echo continued to lead the Nordics back through the building, up the stairs, and into the room where the other countries were currently waiting. Looking inside, she saw about 18 countries already there. 'Hmm,' she thought. 'Time already?'

Echo quickly counted the number of countries inside her head, including the Nordics.

'21... 22... 23... 24!' Echo grinned. This was going to be absolutely perfect. Knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about keeping up the act she had plastered on in front of the nations, Echo laughed. It was a loud, evil one, as cliche as they come, and it turned the heads of everyone in the room towards her. 

"Oh, you all are such idiots!" She cheered. "This is going to be absolutely perfect!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" A voice, America's, asked. Echo turned her head towards him.

"Uh-uh, I can't tell you now! You're going to have to wait for this little game of mine to begin if you want to find out! Tah-tah, I'll see you all later!"

Echo quickly exited the room, slamming and locking the door behind herself, and pressing a small button on the wall. Her grin looked even more menacing than before, if one were to look at her, they would surely think that this woman was insane.

And Echo watched through the glass door as the room filled up with a green gas, and the countries started falling, one by one, onto the cold ground of the meeting room.

Falling, falling, falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe this was a lot of fun to write even though most of it was on a phone. I'm going to keep this short, but yeah.
> 
> In the next chapter you'll learn who the 24 countries were (I've already revealed some of them in the text, see if you can name all 12 of them), and I'll have time to write it since I'll be in a car moving across the country, so chapter two should hopefully be out tomorrow, or the next day, or maybe today of you're lucky!
> 
> Tah-tah!
> 
> ~Kota


	3. Chapter Two: Murder

America's eyes opened slowly, and he groaned as pain came crashing onto his head. Looking around, he caught sight of some of the other nations, a couple already awake, a few waking up as well, but most of them were still lying, almost lifelessly, on the ground.

America didn't recognize the room around him. It was simple and empty, him and the other nations were the only things inside it, and it was small. It seemed like a simple box, the walls, floor, and ceiling were all a blank white, and there was no visible entrance or exit.

'How'd I get here?' America asked silently. He didn't know what to do, but some of the others that had woken up were trying to wake their friends up as well.

America tried to see who was there. He saw Japan, and Russia, and Spain, and he was about to look some more when he realized someone else was right in front of him. 

Someone as in Mr. Forgotten, none other than the famous Canada himself. Well, more like not-really-so-famous Canada.

"Mattie!" America whisper-yelled. "Dude! Wake up!" America shook the other blond, who groaned and shifted before slowly opening one violet-blue eye. 

"Al?" He asked sleepily, trying to prop himself up on his arm. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"I have no idea, dude. But do you remember what happened before all of this?"

Canada slowly looked around the room, still trying to keep awake, and turned back to America. "I-I think I sort of remember that lady, the one who said she was the CEO or somethin', went all crazy and said something a 'game' or whatever." He paused to yawn. "Honestly, Al, I really don't remember. Why don't you go ask someone who might- wait... Where's Kumajuma?"

America let Canada be as he began to frantically look for the polar bear he always carried around, trying to recognize anyone else. The first thing he saw were the eyebrows, and he knew that the world was about to get at least two times grumpier if the Englishman saw him as well. America could see the green eyes face his way, and meet his own, but before either of them could react, a loud voice spoke, as if from a speaker.

"Well, well, well! Looks as if you all are awake now! Did you enjoy your little naps?" The voice was warped, and it would be impossible to recognize it as anyone America knew, though he could tell it was at least female.

"Who the heck are you, and where have you brought us?!" America turned to see Romano screaming at nothing, trying to get the voice's attention. "Just let us go home already!" (Oh yeah, I don't swear or even like using **** so everything in Roma's sailor language will be just lesser words like idiot and heck bcuz yah)

"Aww, but don't you want to play this game with me? It'll be fu-un! I'll even come out to explain the rules to you!"

"Just tell us what's going on!" England was the one yelling this time. 

"Okay, okay, I will. You guys are gonna have to play the game though, I might as well come out anyway! Oh, unless you want to be trapped from the others, or possibly killed by a glass wall, I would move over to the left side of the room if I were you! And by left I mean the side America is on, thank you!"

America only just realized how close to the wall he was. The other countries, probably assuming it would be better to move aside for now, all went near him and made sure they were in a small area of the room.

"Good!" The voice was a lot less warped now, and the countries heard a beep before a slot opened up in the middle of the ceiling, going all the way across, and a clear wall slid down, hitting the ground. A door-sized piece of the white wall on the side opposite of the countries slid open and America could hear the quiet click clicking of heels, slowly growing louder. The area outside the newly-made hole in the wall was dark, but America was able to make out a shadowy figure stepping through. 

"So countries, ready to play the game?" The person spoke as they stepped into the light of the white room. America's eyes widened when he saw the tanned, freckled skin, hazel eyes, and dark brown hair. Echo was standing there, she was the one who had gotten them into the room. 

But she was different from before. While her eyes were seemingly shining with cheerfulness beforehand, now they were narrowed. While her smile was a slight, kind one, now it was more of an evil smirk. America suddenly felt worried about what was about to happen to himself and the others. It seemed none of the other countries knew what to do, many of them ended up talking worriedly amongst each other.

"Anyway, let's start! This is a little different from any other game you've ever played before, but still worth it, at least for me! You will be living here, not in this exact room, however, until I say otherwise. You will have no contact with the outside world, and nobody will be told of your location, they would most certainly want to rescue you, and we can't have that!

" But anyway, you will be living here, and every week, at the exact same time and day, 3 PM on Saturday, one of you will be killed. And not in a peaceful way. You will all be kept in front of the victim during the killing, of course though, you won't see it, we have made sure of that, and the country killed will be chosen randomly."

At this moment, America could see some countries, mainly Romano, however, looking as if they were ready to start screaming endless profanities at Echo, but others were keeping them quiet. 

"And no talking while I explain this game," Echo continued. "I might decide to get rid of you if I find you too annoying." Her gaze turned into a glare, one directed specifically at England, though America didn't know why. "And that's not all! Afterwards, we'll execute an important person in the past victim's life, but only if they show the despair in their heart from the death. Which they will. Sorrow does strange things to people. Especially when they know they're about to all be killed off slowly, two by two a week.

"I'll tell you this person's role in the victim's life of course, I'm sure that alone can expose at least a secret or two! And this will continue to go on until I've had my fun, and who knows, you might get lucky and I'll decide to play nice again after the first round, though chances are you won't." Echo paused and giggled like a schoolgirl. 

"I think that's about it! There's one more thing though, if any of you try to escape, I'll make sure your death it the most painful of them all, okay? And to those of you who really like your animals, I would suggest not looking in the shed." America had no idea what she meant when she said that, though her eyes flickered from Canada to Iceland multiple times. She looked down at her watch and faked surprise, gasping.

"Oh my! Only a minute and 27 seconds until round one!" Her face formed back into a grin, and she turned back around and walked out of the room, calling, "Tah-tah! I hope you won't be too scarred by the first death! That won't be as fun as seeing you slowly lose hope each and every time!" She broke out laughing, and it could be heard as she walked out, echoing throughout the hall before the hole slammed shut, the sound disappearing suddenly. The glass wall slid back up, and the room was left in shocked silence as the countries tried to process what had just happened. 

'Who all is here anyway?' America asked himself as he skimmed the room.

Belarus, England, France, Ukraine, Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Italy, Romano, Germany, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Hong Kong, Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Sealand. There were 23 others, but that's not what made America sick to his stomach.

It was the fact that one of the smallest countries, and a small micronation, had to be stuck in this situation as well. They weren't as young as they looked, but being physically younger, they were more innocent as well, they shouldn't have to be stuck in this. 

America wished it was a dream, and he hoped that he would wake up, once this was all over, and find himself in the middle of a world meeting, with other countries getting mad at him for falling asleep.

And though everything became pitch black, America didn't find himself in a world meeting. The countries surrounding him, shocked, began to talk, asking what was going on, or asking why it was so dark. 

And when the lights came back on, the countries saw the red on the white, and stood in silence, trying to process the scene in front of them.

All was quiet, until a small, choked voice, though America couldn't tell which, for all he knew it could've been his own, spoke two simple words. 

"B-big brother?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe this could go anywhere. I want to see guesses on which big brother this is. Like seriously you guys don't have an exact because there are at least three big brothers this could refer to as of now. XD
> 
> I'm updating really quickly, but sitting in a car heading across the country gives me a lot of free time to do so, so trust me, I'm not just slapping ideas together. I just have a lot of motivation and inspiration and nothing else to do.
> 
> I really like how largely Echo's character changes, it's fun writing characters like her. I'm probably going to start working on the next chapter on my laptop and putting it in a word document, so yeah. I'll still get to write more today.
> 
>  
> 
> Tah-tah!
> 
> ~Kota


	4. Chapter Three: Round 1-1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here come the death scenes. :3 if anyone isn't okay with these types of things, I would check to see if the first paragraph makes you feel uneasy. I would think that would be the worst part of the chapter.

He was hanging by his scarf, from a metal pipe connected to the roof that America was certain was not there before. Long, sharp nails stuck through him on various places, his chest, arms, legs, even one going through his scarf and into his neck.

America felt like he was going to puke. Not only the mockery in hanging him with his beloved scarf, and a pipe like the one he always carried with him, was what made America feel so sick. It was the fact that someone would do this to anyone, even Russia of all people, and get it done so quickly.

He couldn't believe that these people could kill Russia, RUSSIA, so quickly. He was known for being large and insanely strong. If these people could get rid of him as easily as that, with probably almost no sound, though it was hard to tell with everyone being so loud and freaked out when the room became dark, America guessed they would be able to get rid of the others much quicker. 

America was absolutely terrified by now. Terrified for his life, especially. He thought nations couldn't die. He was always told that unless their country was destroyed, it would be impossible to kill them. 

And none of the other countries were working against them with something like this, were they? The thought made him worry about his trust in some of the nations, but mainly the ones that weren't there. 

America tried to clear his mind, not think about the bloody mess of a now dead enemy of his that was directly in front of him. Most of the other nations were freaking out about the scene. Ukraine was crying and Belarus was frozen, and America only realized then it was Belarus who had said those two words while the rest of them were stunned for a simple moment.

And then America remembered that Echo had explained to them that someone with an important role in the killed country's lives, and he wondered. Would either of Russia's sisters be the next to die?

America didn't know much about Ukraine. He never talked to her very much, though she seemed kind, and a bit awkward, the few times he did. America wouldn't mind Belarus being gone, but how much pain would that cause for any others, especially Ukraine?

America couldn't help but feel sympathy for the two. They probably both thought one of the was going to die soon, and leave the other alone, with both of their siblings gone.

But who else could have an important role in Russia's life? The country was basically unloved, feared by some of the nations, hates by others. Who would even give the large Russian the chance to grow close?

"It seems you all are shocked greatly by round 1's first death!" Echo's voice came over the room. America still had no idea whether there was a hidden speaker, or what, but he shook his head, knowing it was an idiotic time to think about something so trivial. "I'm glad my hard work has succeeded! Now, I know that you probably think it's one of the Russian's sisters that will be the important one killed, but you are wrong! I am very happy to admit that it was his lover! Shocking, right? The unloved with a lover? That would never be possible!" Echo broke off into very insane-sounding laughter. "Oh, but it is true, and it will become very obvious in only a moment, my friends! I'll see you when it does!" Her voice cut off, leaving America extremely confused. Out of all the years the two nations knew each other, America had never seen any proof of Russia ever being in such a relationship as that? What country could've felt about him that way, and was so good at hiding it that none of them even had a chance to realize it before all of this? And was there really someone like this who knew more about the other countries than they did about themselves? How in the world was anyone able to learn that, especially a mortal, or even a group of mortals?

"Who was she talking about?" America asked nobody in particular, voicing his original thoughts about the situation. "Who could've felt about Russia in that way, out of the people we know?"

Many of the others glanced at each other, and it seemed none of them had an answer. None of them, if telling the truth, knew of any such relationship in Russia's life. America turned around and caught Japan's eye, who looked at him with concern and fear, but after a second his gaze went to something in front of America, closer to where Russia's body hung limply. And Japan's eyes seemed to fill with confusion, and even more worry, his facial expression changing slightly to match it.

Wanting to know what the Asian nation was now looking at, America turned back around and looked slightly to his right. There, diagonally closer to Russia than America and anyone else, was China, only his ponytail and the back of his military uniform giving that away. He wasn't moving, simple standing there, facing away from the others.

"China?" America asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

China made a sound, but it was too quiet for America to make out, or even understand in the slightest. 

"What?" America asked, keeping his tone quiet. 

This time, China spoke again, a bit louder. It was a choked word, and a simple thing, but it didn't help anyone.

"N-no." It was silent again, the others had stopped any and all side freak-outs had been postponed to pay all attention to the Asian, trying to piece together the situation. Not even Italy uttered a word.

China repeated himself again. "No. I'm not- I'm not okay. I-I-" and it seemed China wasn't able to say a single thing more. He collapsed onto his knees, now sobbing loudly, leaving America to guess that he was already crying before-hand.

America realized at that moment. He realized who the lover of Russia was, because at this moment, it couldn't have been anymore obvious.

This chaos had only just started, and America was already regretting everything he had done, and ever agreeing to hold the world meeting at that so seemingly innocent building

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually finished this the same day as Chapter Two, but decided to start writing ahead to make a longer chapter next time, and I didn't want to upload two chapters in a 7 hour time frame.
> 
> Yes, I really did write this horrid chapter that quickly. And I regret none of it.
> 
> I want to have a daily update schedule until I lose some of my motivation to write this, or until I become too busy to do so, it'll give you guys a good amount of chapters to read, hopefully. 
> 
> If you don't ship something in this story, it's probably going to be introduced when they're going to be killed so all those people who don't ship RoChu, dun worry.
> 
> It's close enough to dead already. XD
> 
> Tah-tah!
> 
> ~Kota, who is SERIOUSLY on a writing roll today


	5. Chapter Four: Round 1-2

Echo's voice came over once again, after a bit of near silence, China not included.

"Well then," she said, obvious cheerfulness in her voice. "Seems you've found the odd one out! I hope your ready for your 4000 years to come to an end, China!" She giggled as if she made a hilarious joke, and America could imagine her grinning while watching them all in this position. It made him feel absolutely sick, even more than before. 

He didn't know how to react. Russia was dead, China about to be killed, and behind him, the others were just reacting as well. America tried to tune them out, tried to ignore everything that was going on, and just sink into nothingness, as he continued to hope it was all just a horrible nightmare, as many of these things often were.

It didn't work, and America sunk back into the reality of his situation, disappointment taking up his mind. 

It seemed Echo was still talking as America tried to block out the world, and so he missed some of what she was saying beforehand, only catching the end bit. 

"... Would suggest you choose the second option, and just accept your death calmly, China. Wouldn't want to get the others caught in the mix, now would we?"

America, confused, watched as China slowly pushed himself back up to his feet, taking deep and shaky breaths. A hole, once again like the door Echo had walked in and out of, slid into the wall, and he, though slowly, started walking towards it.

"No," he muttered as he headed towards it. "I-I don't want that."

China stepped inside, and the "door", or whatever you would call it, shut behind him, hiding him from sight. Nobody on the other side of China moved, they were unable to react. The wall nearby the past door changed, going from an opaque white to clear in a window-like box, the change going across in a wave. Through that, America could see China, standing in a small room, his face tear-stained and his eyes worriedly flickering across to his surroundings.

America was worried about this. Would they get a warning beforehand? Or would Echo just commence the death, without China saying so much as a good bye to the others? America hoped that he would at least know it was coming. By sending him into his soon-to-be death room, Echo was telling him that, yes, he was going to die, but it still could come at any minute. All America could do was hope that he wouldn't be in the situation China was in, that he would get lucky and stay alive through this whole mess.

"You ready for death, China?" The familiar voice of Echo surrounding the room. China lifted his head up to the ceiling, as if he heard it too, and slowly, his eyes showing that in reality, he was not ready, nodded.

"Great then! Those who wish not to see the first execution where the darkness will not hide it, and probably the least painful, should look away or close their eyes about now!"

America, for one, had no intention of seeing the death of a country, closed his eyes tightly, waiting for a sign that he could open them afterwards.

He heard a couple gears moving loudly, and the slightly muffled sound of something large and metal swinging around, before there was a quick chop, like an ax cutting through something, and all was silent for a moment.

It was only then that America decided was a good enough time to look again, and sure enough, there was a bloody axe protruding from a metal arm of some sorts in the wall, still swinging sideways. There were a few visible blood splatters on the wall, but America could see most of the red on the floor from the edge of his vision, and he slowly crept towards the window in the wall, to get a better glimpse of the floor. What he saw was a mess, China laying on his back, his face morphed into surprise.

It probably wouldn't have seemed so bad if his head were still connected to his body.

America once again felt like he was going to puke, and he heard the familiar sounds of retching coming from near him. He didn't want to see who it was, but had a couple guesses based on which counties he thought were more sensitive. Seeing two people you knew, even if not very well, killed in such a short amount of time was bound to affect anyone negatively, some definitely more than others.

"Well, I've had a very productive day today!" Echo said. "But it seems you guys don't like my presents to you. At least I didn't start with a country like Italy, I'm sure that would be much worse for all of you. And better for me!" She burst out laughing. "Anyway, if you all would be so kind to turn around and leave, you can go to the assigned area now, it's open and ready to go. Wouldn't want to leave you guys stuck in here until I has my fun, would I? Then it wouldn't be as fun!" 

America turned around, and sure enough, there was a door, opening to an unmistakeable field of grass. He could smell the open air from where he stood.

He rushed towards it, dying to get away from the smell of throw-up and spilt blood. Hearing footsteps behind him, America knew he was not the only one. 

As soon as he came out, he released his breath. He only then realized that he had been holding it, for at least a minute now. He looked around. There really was open space, he could see the sky, feel the wind, he wasn't stuck in that room anymore.

"Where are we, exactly?" America heard France ask behind him.

"Well, Frog-face," England replied. "I don't know, but it seems we're blocked in, there's a huge stone wall surrounding us, if you can't see that."

"Do you really have to keep up with a nickname like that in a time like this, England?"

"Well how about you shut up and deal with it!"

Lithuania tried to break the two countries up, while America sighed at how immature they were being. Sure, he was known for being like that, but it was not an option as of now for him. 

He checked out their surroundings. There was the white area behind him, and looking back at it, it was connected to another large building, though it was outside of the wall. In the middle of everything there was a large courtyard like area, even having some plants and paths to walk around on. The paths led to three different buildings. One was large, multiple stories high. The next one only had one level, but it seemed spread out, yet still not very big. The last one was a small thing, looking like a backyard shed. 

America realized that must've been the 'shed' Echo had mentioned. Hadn't she said something about not going there if you had a pet, or something? America couldn't remember exactly, but you honestly couldn't blame him. She has mentioned something about a shed before Russia's death, he forgot some of the details that didn't exactly apply to him after that.

"Anyway," America said. "I'm going to check out all these buildings. And since they were nice enough to have already put them in order, from largest to smallest, I guess I'll just follow that pattern too."

'---'

After looking at the two largest buildings, America and the others had been able to figure out that the multi-leveled one was a dorm of some sorts, each of them having different rooms. The next building was a mix of a gym and cafeteria area, kitchen included. Everything was still fairly new, and basically every country came to a silent agreement that they would never let England even step a foot inside of it.

Now, all the countries were standing outside of the shed, reluctant to see inside of it.

America stepped up to the plate of leader, immediately taking control of the situation, since he always did that best anyway. 

"Well, guys," he said. "It looks like only a couple people can fit in here, and I'm going first."

He heard a couple sighs from the countries who didn't like the idea of him bossing them around, but America just ignored them and stepped inside, getting used to the dim light. He reached for what looked like a lamp cord, and thankfully it clicked and a lightbulb flickered to life as he pulled down on it.

America gasped. "Um, Iceland, Canada, I think you guys might want to see this."

"What is it?" Iceland asked as he pushed through the other countries to get to America in the shed. He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening. 

"M-Mr. Puffin..." His voice cracked and trailed off, and America could see his eyes filling up with tears. Canada's reaction wasn't much better, as the two saw their beloved pets, killed and shown on display on the wooden wall. 

America's attention was no longer focused on the deceased pets, however. Instead, he caught sight of a series of pictures set on them, ones that brought a few tears to his eyes. They were all pictures taken of China and Russia.

One in the winter, with Russia's scarf wrapped around China's neck as well. One in a field, with China leaning into Russia, the sky around them hinting that they were looking at a sunset. Russia handing China a bouquet of sunflowers.

There were so many of them, and America knew that the goal of them was to being pain to the living countries as they saw what special relationship the two had.

And on the empty space of the wooden wall, written in what America thought, but hoped was not, blood, was a sentence that chilled him to the bones. 

'This has only just begun.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah I especially liked writing the end of this because RoChu.
> 
> And yes the whole point of this story is to bring pain, not only to the fictional characters, but the readers as well.
> 
> So don't be surprised when I do things like these RoChu pictures.
> 
> But yeah, for that, just imagine a bunch of cute fluffy RoChu images put together in a sort of collage.
> 
> And also, I won't be updating anywhere near as often as I did for these past few chapters, I probably only will work on them when I'm in a place with wifi so I don't use up my phone's data.
> 
> And my house is probably not going to have its own wifi until like October because the line we have to use (unless we get lucky and can figure out how to get another one) said they can't add people until they update their whole thing, which could take months, so yeah.
> 
> The world hates me, it seems.
> 
> Tah-tah!
> 
> ~Kota


	6. Chapter Five: Positive

America and the others slowly calmed down and tried figuring out what to do next. They were stuck in this place, and had just witnessed two deaths, both of which involved people they knew, as well as the pets. America overheard Finland freaking out over the fact that Hanatamago could've been like Mr. Puffin and Kumajirou if he had decided to bring her, and he was also worrying about whether Sealand would end up dying.

America had only just realized that every of the 5 Nordics were there, meaning that, even if not everyone ended up being killed, there was a likely chance some of them would end up dead. America didn't know what it felt like, having 4 people, close enough to be family, and the chance that they might die. Sure, America knew people that died, he still missed Davie, but he never knew what the chance of the 4 closest people in his life dying felt like.

He shuddered as he thought of the possibilities of other deaths. If this mess had only just began, and already it was so horrible, just how bad could, and would, it get? 

One thing that confused America is why Echo mentioned there was going to be one group of two deaths a week. Why once a week? If her goal was to get rid of the countries, why didn't she just kill them off, all at once? Or was she not aiming to get rid of all of them, but most of them, and leave the living countries with the most emotional damage possible?

America didn't truly know, but he assumed it was safe to guess that he was right with his last assumption.

A couple people were still confused, and worried, namely Italy and Ukraine. America looked over towards the dormitory-type area, and started walking towards it, away from everyone else. He wanted some time to think, to be alone, to process this all in his brain. 

"Hey! Where are you going?" America heard England basically yell from behind him. He didn't answer, however, and just continued on the path towards the dormitory. 

He stopped for a moment, staring up at the large building. It wasn't skyscraper high, but still had multiple floors, and the sun was making it so a shadow was casting itself over the nation. After a silent minute, he gripped the freezing metal handle of the door, and turned it, swinging the door open towards himself. Walking in, he shut the door behind himself, and looked around.

There was a chance that they were assigned certain rooms, and a very likely chance, but America wanted to make sure. Looking at the entrances to the rooms on the first floor, he saw little slots with papers slid inside them. Each one had a name, and when America didn't see his own, he walked up the first set of stairs.

There were definitely more stairs then America would be comfortable with putting in, either the rooms were large, or these people really liked the idea of torturing the countries with too many stairs, and, of course, not a single elevator. (pfft, drama queen. I didn't even actually put that many stairs in, only a few sets!)

He was on the top floor when, finally, there sat his name on the card sitting on the center of the door. 

'America'

Reading it over a couple times, just to make sure there was nothing else on the paper, America took a step closer towards the door, confused about how he was supposed to enter. 

"I see you're confused!" A voice spoke from nowhere, making America slightly jump in surprise. The voice laughed, and he recognized it as Echo, and scowled. "Wow, you really are just a big baby! I can't believe that scared you!" America rolled his eyes, and Echo continued. "Anyway, if you want to enter the room, just turn the handle, and enter in your most used account password. It's really simple, and kind of stupid, really."

America hesitantly did so, entering 'BurgersForTheHero' as the password, and he heard the click of a lock.

"See? I happen to have all your files, so I figured, why not give them something they'll remember? That's easier than reminding them 10 million times what to do, don't 'cha think?"

America personally didn't care. "How do you know what I'm doing right now, anyway?"

Once again the loud laugh came through, and America heard a bit of static. "Wow, you must really be bright," Echo said sarcastically. "I set up cameras and speakers everywhere, except for in your rooms. I don't remember if I've said that already, but if I have, wow, you have memory issues." (No, this is not me, as the author, forgetting whether she mentioned that earlier. Echo has some canon problems with remembering details like that. XD I love that side of her character. She's actually really awesome, if I were following her full personality she would be SOOOO OOC right now)

America slowly opened the door, looking inside the room. His hunch was correct, it was huge. Especially for a place where they would be dying off, slowly. Once again, Echo's voice rang out.

"Okay, there are no cameras in these rooms, but there are speakers. I forgot to say that. I can guess what you're thinking though, even without seeing your stupid face. Large place, isn't it? I mean, we're already killing you off, might as well give some people a bit more hope, and a larger reason to want to live. I mean, if it were me, I would certainly hope that I was still alive later that day so I could come up and plop down in my king sized bed!" She giggled quietly, though the speakers still played it loud enough for America to hear.

"You're a horrible person."

Echo gasped. "Why, thank you! People never say that enough to me these days!" America could practically hear the grin in her voice. He rolled his eyes, scanning the room. Everything was made up of different monotonous shades of white and gray, with some black sprinkled in, on small objects, mainly. It was simple, like something you would see in a hotel, and there was a door leading towards what America assumed was a bathroom. He also noticed a few extra pairs of clothes sitting on the bed, with a note on top.

He walked over, and picked up the note, reading it silently.

'You better change and wash these clothes. I don't want anyone to be smelly before they're dead, it's my job to make sure they smell only of blood, and not of dirt and yucky things. :P -Echo'

America was surprised with how childish the note seemed. There was a washing machine and drier in the corner, so he knew that part would be easy, and he would've done so anyway, but he didn't expect Echo to think she would have to tell them that with a note. America wondered whether she was a clean freak, or whether she just liked the smell of blood more than sweat.

The images of Russia and China's deaths flashed inside America's head, and he frantically pushed them away. If as many of the countries were going to die as he thought, freaking out now would just make it 10 times worse when someone else ended up dying later on.

He removed the clothes and note form his bed, setting them down on a table near the edge of the room. Seeing something that looked like a large picture frame, he turned it so that he could see clearly what was there.

His eyes widened as he recognized the faces on the picture. Each of the 24 countries had a headshot picture, but China and Russia's were in black and white, unlike the others. He was guessing the pictures of them were digital, because of the blinking 'Round 1 complete' above their faces.

Frowning, America sighed and set the digital picture frame down, walking over to his bed and sitting down. He had a feeling that things were just going to slowly get worse, and he wished he could be anywhere but there, in the monotone room, inside the wall, and in the trap of death.

Boy, life was looking so happy.

Not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised, and pleased, with myself. Usually with chapters, I end up writing like 50-100 words, abandoning it, and coming back a couple days to two weeks later. I actually got from 300 to 1400 words in only a couple hours with this chapter.
> 
> I'm still updating everything really slowly, and I'm sorry. I'm just really busy with a school project (which i need to work on more). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, slow updates or not.
> 
> Tah-tah!
> 
> ~Kota


	7. [Author's Note]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'M SO SORRY I'M SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON  
I'm a HUGE procrastinator, and I always have been. I honestly really love writing and updating this story, but lately I've found myself sucked into more and more fandoms (I'm [back] in the Minecraft fandom, phandom, and Gravity Falls fandom, and I've been sucked into Undertale, Owari no Seraph, Hamilton, and many other fandoms), and that on top of my procrastination is making it incredibly hard to force myself to write.  
I will honestly try to update at least one of my stories fairly soon, and once again, I'm INCREDIBLY sorry.  
I'm not inactive, I haven't left. None of that is happening. I still really love Hetalia, and I will for a while, but yeah. :/  
And on top of that, school is busy enough to be the death of me.  
I promise I will try to update soon!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WEIRD THINGS ARE HAPPENING WITH CHAPTERS AND NOTES NOW IF SOMETHING DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT I PROMISE I'M FIXING IT


	8. Sorry, Guys (story notes)

If you've read my Hetalia one-shots, you'll know that the other day I added a note saying that I was no longer in the Hetalia fandom, and I've basically been procrastinating with writing this (for like a year now, tbh) because I don't like writing and I don't like apologizing because I say sorry too much.  
But yeah, I'm not going to continue with this story anymore. I have the notes written down, and I thought that I might as well share them. If anyone wants to ever write their version of something like this, just ask, I'm cool with letting you adopt this fic.  
Anyway, here are the notes I had written down for the story forever ago, sorry if they don't make any sense:  
The countries get trapped, specifically Ukraine, Russia, China, Iceland, Norway, Japan, America, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Hong Kong, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Sealand, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, France, England, Switzerland, Spain, Romano, and Liechtenstein, in a large area, surrounded by a big wall. This space is run by Eckoe Industries, and where their world meeting was supposed to be held. They get told by a strange girl (Echo/Rayl) that until said otherwise, once a week, at exactly 3 pm, one of them will be killed off at random (though they really already have every single death planned out), and the one who responds worst to it, and has an important role in the dead nation's life, will be killed as well. The countries are told that if they try to escape or rebel against what is happening to them, they will be killed as well. Rayl ends her information by leaving the room precisely a minute and 27 seconds before the first death, and leaving the countries in the room. The lights turn off, and once they come back on, the first country is found dead.

Deaths:  
\- Russia, China (lovers)  
\- Sealand, Finland (family)  
\- Poland and Lithuania, trying to escape  
\- Iceland and Norway, Hong and Den (lovers and family) (extra killing as country's' punishment for others trying to escape)   
\- Germany, Italy (lovers)  
-Liech, Swissy (family)  
-France, Canada (family)  
-Romano, Spain (lovers)

The killing ends when Sweden, America, England, Japan, Ukraine, and Belarus are left. Echo has a little argument with her boss over the rewards she was told she'd be given, but she eventually gives up, and lets the surviving countries go. They meet the others, the ones who weren't sucked into the situation, as well as the capitals, and tell them the bad news. Prussia, Paris, and Berlin have a little crying fest together, Berlin and Prussia crying about both Germany and France's deaths, but Paris only crying about her brother. Vilnius collapses onto her knees, shaking with tears once she learns of what happened to Lithuania, and Moscow looks lonely, and like he wants to cry, but can't, when he's told about Russia. All the other countries are shocked that something like this could happen, and the story ends with Echo leaving a dark room with a weird light shining from the back, looking behind at the light, and muttering "I just hope they never learn the truth of their fallen friends" before closing the door behind her.

A sequel will be written, from Ohio, Berlin, Paris, Vilnius, Moscow, Ottowa, and London's points of view, where they decide to get rid of the company that killed their friends, and in the midst of it, learn the truth of the "deaths" of the others, who might not be so dead after all.

The capitals (and Ohio) work together as they figure out the mystery behind the death of the countries. As they go on, they learn more and more about how they might not actually be dead, and have to come up with many plans along the way, breaking into buildings and hacking information as they come closer to learning what actually happened. In the end, they are able to free the countries, and kill Echo.

There is a final and third book, written in a diary format by Echo, and tells her past.

Titles:

-And the World Comes Tumbling Down- Book 1

-Bringing the World Back Up- Book 2

-The World of a Shattered Soul- Book 3

 

Tbh, I have no idea what I was thinking when I wanted to write this, but at least you guys know what I was trying to write all that time ago.

**Author's Note:**

> WHOOP! I WAS ABLE TO WRITE OVER 2000 WORDS IN LIKE 3 HOURS! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I ACTUALLY TRY, MOM!
> 
> But yeah, I'm really proud of this story so far. I think I'm going to start working on chapter one right now.
> 
> I'm really excited for writing this. Already I've introduced more OCs than actual characters (all of them, even Echo, are originally Hetalia-related) and even managed to have part of this have to do with my hometown which I will no longer be living in after a couple hours (yes I was born in Cleveland, I'm still living in a suburb really close to downtown, but I'm moving in literally hours to the other side of the country :3), and all of this in the prologue.
> 
> Ah, life is good, isn't it my roadkill dog, Friskie?
> 
> No, but seriously, I came up with this story idea at like 2 today, and it's only 6:43, and though I've spent most of my time working on this, I've also helped with finishing the packing of things into the truck and other "important" things (Like LLSIF, drawing, working on characters and personalities, and going on Tumblr).
> 
> But seriously it's been so long since I last had this much motivation to write something it's really funny how it only takes hours of listening to nightcore versions of Primadonna and The Phoenix, a laptop, and a simple idea to get me so excited about writing a fanfic that will be filled with all my favorite characters (2 out of 3 of my absolute favorite Hetalia characters are dying and I'm smiling about this fact) dying.
> 
> And if you want to know what inspired the long as heck title, don't be afraid to ask me! I'm open to tell anyone, I just don't want to make this author's note too much longer.
> 
> Ah, I really do have mental issues, don't I?
> 
> Anyway, expect this, or another story, to be updated soon, I'm on a role today, and still in the mood to write for hours!
> 
> ~Kota


End file.
